1 INTRODUCTION

Recent advances in display technology include the
development of both large and flat displays: CRT technology is approaching laser printer resolution; flat screen technologies are making rapid strides, mostly due to the popularity of portable displays and the perceived attractiveness of a large flat screen television. Such technologies enable one to rethink the way in which electronic information is accessed.

In this thesis I discuss how large computer displays will change the human interface of computer applications. I have been using a broadsheet-sized color monitor as the primary display on my workstation for more than a year now. Through the X11
window system, the screen gives me access to all normal computer applications, e.g., electronic mail, word processors, drawing programs, and games--lots of them! Using a generous programming editor window, I developed a news presentation system that takes advantage of the screen's similarities with a newspaper front page.

The display has four times more pixels than an average X11 workstation, and it is used differently. The difference cannot be measured in square centimeters only; when using the large display, screen space management shifts emphasis from screen area conservation to screen overview. Suddenly the peripheral vision becomes a communication channel [Mollitor 90]
, and new metaphors become available for interacting with the computer. See figure 2. One of these metaphors, the newspaper metaphor, is discussed in detail in this thesis.

The hypothesis in this project is that large screens are better for electronic newspapers than smaller ones, and that they are increasingly competitive with newsprint.